I could be ridiculously wrong on this but I’ve always thought the only reason we haven’t signed more of these previously is because we’ve been hamstrung by other deals signed long before Gazidis came on board.

It would be fair to counter that by pointing out the obvious oversight that stops us having a shirt sleeve sponsor right now but seriously if we could have had (for instance) official travel insurance partners 5 years ago without falling foul of other obligations why wouldn’t we have just done it?

Emmanuel Adebayor on Arsenal: "I was the strongest player on the team, despite the fact that I weighed 73kg. Chelsea had Essien & Ballack in midfield. We had Rosicky. If you said as much as "how are you" to him, he would then be injured for 2 and a half months." (So Foot)